The Domestication of
Enkidu

Aruru washed her hands,
pinched off a piece of clay, cast it out into the open
country.

She created a primitive man,
Enkidu the warrior: offspring of silence, sky-bolt of

Ninurta. His whole body was
shaggy with hair, he was furnished with tresses like a woman, His
locks of hair grew luxuriant like grain. Excerpted from S. Dalley,
Myths from Mesopotamia (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp.
52-56, 138-39.

Mythological animals include a
composite
bull-elephant. Some
seals suggest influence from or at least traits held in common with
Mesopotamia; among these are the Gilgamesh (Mesopotamian epic) motif of a man grappling with a
pair of tigers
and the bull-man
Enkidu (a human with
horns, tail,
and rear hooves of a
bull). Among the most
interesting of the seals are those that depict cult scenes or
symbols; a god, seated in a yogic (meditative) posture and
surrounded by
beasts, with a
horned
headdress and erect
phallus; the tree spirit with a tiger standing before it; the horned
tree spirit confronted by a worshiper; a composite beast with a line
of seven figures standing before it; the pipal leaf motif; and the
swastika (a symbol still widely used by Hindus, Jainas, and
Buddhists).

1. The tradition that man's
first sexual intercourse was with animals, not women, may be due to
the widely spread practice of bestiality among the herdsmen of the Middle East, which is still condoned by
custom, although figuring three times in the Pentateuch as a capital
crime. In the Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic, Enkidu is said to have lived with gazelles and
jostled other wild beasts at the watering place,

until civilized by
Aruru's
priestess. Having
enjoyed here embraces for six days and seven nights, he wished to
rejoin the wild beasts but, to his surprise, they fled from him.

Enkidu then knew that he had
gained understanding, and the priestess said: 'Thou art wise,
Enkidu, like unto a
god!'

2. Primeval man was held by
the Babylonians to have been androgynous. Thus the Gilgamesh Epic gives Enkidu androgynous features: 'the hair of his
head like a woman's, with locks that sprout like those of Nisaba, the
Grain-goddess.' The Hebrew tradition evidently derives from the
Greek sources, because both the terms in a Tannaitic midrash to
describe the bisexual Adam are Greek: androgynos, 'man-woman', and diprosopon, 'two-faced'. Philo of Alexandria, the hellenistic
philosopher and commentator on the Bible, contemporary with Jesus,
held that man was at first bisexual; so did the Gnostics. This belief
is clearly borrowed form Plato.
Yet the belief of two bodies placed back to back may well have been
founded on observaation of Siamese twins, which are sometimes joined
in this awkward manner. The two-faced Adam appears to be a fancy
derived from coins or statues of Janus, the Roman New Year
god.

(Because Gilgamesh is too
energetic for the
people of Uruk,

the gods decide to
create a partner for him.)

They called upon
great
Aruru:

"You, Aruru, you created
humankind!

Now create someone for
him, to match the ardor of his energies!

Let them be
regular
rivals, and let
Uruk be allowed peace!"

When Aruru heard this, she
created inside herself the word of Anu.

Aruru washed her hands,
pinched off a piece of clay,

cast it out into the
open country.

She created a primitive
man, Enkidu the
warrior:

offspring of silence,
sky-bolt of Ninurta.

His whole body was shaggy
with hair, he was furnished with tresses like a woman,

His locks of hair grew
luxuriant like grain.

He knew neither people nor
country; he was dressed as cattle are.

With gazelles he eats
vegetation,

With cattle he quenches
his thirst at the watering place.

With wild beasts he
satisfies his need for water.

A hunter, a
brigand,

Came face to face with him
beside the watering place.

The hunter looked at him,
and was dumbstruck to see him.

In perplexity he went back
into his house

And was afraid, stayed
mute, was silent,

And was ill at ease, his
face worried.

... the grief in his
innermost being.

His face was like that of
a long-distance traveler.

The hunter made his voice
heard and spoke, he said to his father,

"Father, there was a young
man who came from the mountain,

On the land he was strong,
he was powerful.

His strength was very
hard, like a sky-bolt of Anu.

He walks on the mountain
all the time,

All the time he eats
vegetation with cattle,

All the time he puts his
feet in the water at the watering place.

I am too frightened to
approach him.

He kept filling in the
pits that I dug,

He kept pulling out the
traps that I laid.

He kept helping cattle,
wild beasts of open country, to escape my grasp.

He will not allow me to
work in open country."

His father spoke to him,
to the hunter,

"... Uruk,
Gilgamesh.

... his open
country.

His strength is very hard,
like a sky-bolt of Anu

Go, set your face towards
Uruk.

... the strength of a
man,

... lead her forth,
and

... the strong man.

When he approaches the
cattle at the watering place,

She must take off her
clothes and reveal her attractions.

He will see her and go
close to her.

Then his cattle, who have
grown up in open country with him, will become

alien to him."

He listened to the advice
of his father.

The hunter went off to see
Gilgamesh.

He took the road, set his
face towards Uruk,

Entered the presence of
Gilgamesh, and said:

"There was a young man who
came from the mountain,

On the land he was strong,
he was powerful.

His strength is very hard,
like a sky-bolt of Anu.

He walks on the mountain
all the time,

All the time he eats
vegetation with cattle,

All the time he puts his
feet in the water at the watering place.

I am too frightened to
approach him.

He kept filling in the
pits that I dug,

He kept pulling out the
traps that I laid.

He kept helping cattle,
wild beasts of open country, to escape my grasp.

He will not allow me to
work in open country."

Gilgamesh spoke to him, to
the hunter,

"Go, hunter, lead forth
the harlot Shamhat,

And when he approaches the
cattle at the watering place,

She must take off her
clothes and reveal her attractions.

He will see her and go
close to her.

Then his cattle, who have
grown up in open country with him, will become

alien to him."

The hunter went; he led
forth the harlot Shamhat with him,

And they took the road,
they made the journey.

In three days they reached
the appointed place.

Hunter and harlot sat down
in their hiding place.

For one day, then a
second, they sat at the watering place.

Then cattle arrived at the
watering place; they drank.

Then wild beasts arrived
at the water; they satisfied their need.

And he, Enkidu, whose origin is the mountain,

Who eats vegetation with
gazelles,

Drinks at the watering
place with cattle,

Satisfied his need for
water with wild beasts.

Shamhat looked at the
primitive man,

The murderous youth from
the depths of open country.

"Here he is, Shamhat, bare
your bosom,

Open your legs and let him
take in your attractions!

Do not pull away, take
wind of him!

He will see you and come
close to you.

Spread open your garments,
and let him lie upon you,

Do for him, the primitive
man, as women do.

Then his cattle, who have
grown up in open country with him,

will become alien to
him.

His love-making he will
lavish upon you!"

Shamhat loosened her
undergarments, opened her legs and he took in her
attractions.

She did not pull away. She
took wind of him,

Spread open her garments,
and he lay upon her.

She did for him, the
primitive man, as women do.

His love-making he
lavished upon her.

For six days and seven
nights Enkidu was aroused and poured himself into Shamhat.

When he was sated with her
charms,

He set his face towards
the open country of his cattle.

The gazelles saw Enkidu
and scattered,

The cattle of open country
kept away from his body.

For Enkidu had stripped;
his body was too clean.

His legs, which used to
keep pace with his cattle, were at a standstill.